How to read a file in VB - Part 1 - VB6, Line Input

[Killer42]

Here is a very simple example routine which reads a text file, one line at a time. This uses the built-in VB statements only. Later we will cover the FileSystemObject, which provides greater functionality at the expense of slightly greater code complexity.

This self-contained routine can be pasted into a code module and called from anywhere, including the immediate window. It will expect you to pass the name of a file (including the path if it isn't in the current directory) and will copy the contents of the file to the immediate window. Note it will also avoid, as far as possible, interfering with any other processing which may be going on at the time.

Public Sub DumpFile_V01(ByVal FileName As String)
  Dim FileNo As Long
  Dim LineNo As Long
  Dim LineText As String
 
  FileNo = FreeFile ' Get next available file number.
 
  Open FileName For Input Access Read Shared As #FileNo
  Do Until EOF(FileNo) ' Repeat until end of file...
    Line Input #FileNo, LineText ' Read a line from the file.
    LineNo = LineNo + 1
    Debug.Print Format(LineNo, "00000"); ": "; LineText
    DoEvents ' Allow Windows to handle other tasks.
  Loop
  Close #FileNo
End Sub